Related Articles

Create a Tuscan-inspired vignette on a kitchen cabinet top with rustic, Old World accents and rich, organic elements. Direct a track light or recessed light fixture on display items to highlight features, textures and colors.

Create a Rustic Backdrop

Earthy or natural textures are signature elements of a Tuscan-inspired kitchen. Adding a faux texture to the wall helps set the right tone for the room and creates a pleasant background for a cabinet top display. The display brings attention to the wall behind it, especially in kitchens with vaulted ceilings, where more of the wall is exposed above the cabinet tops. Apply a color wash to the walls to mimic the look of the aged plaster or stone walls of a Tuscan villa or farmhouse. Start with a light base color of cream, pale yellow or pale orange. A darker glaze color, such as burnt umber, is applied using various tools and techniques depending on how much faux texture is desired. Damp rag or brush techniques provide subtle texture, while a sea sponge can be used for heavier texture.

What to Include

Bountiful displays of fruits and vegetables commonly adorn Mediterranean-style kitchens. Gather a collection of faux fruit such as red, purple and green grape clusters, apples, pears, pomegranates and lemons. Provide extra greenery with garlands of silk ivy and organic texture with grapevine baskets. Other items to consider include earthenware vases, pitchers or urns; copper cookware; wrought iron wall art; framed pictures of wine still lifes or the Tuscan countryside; and colorful Majolica Italian pottery. Also a common Tuscan motif, a ceramic rooster would feel right at home among the other organic elements of a cabinet top display.

Grouped Arrangements

Create visual depth by layering items of varying sizes from back to front. Place large baskets on their sides in the back. Choose a focal point item to display in the center, such as a large serving platter, a pair of earthenware vases or a pedestal fruit bowl. When displaying copper cookware, place items upright and on their sides to vary the height and add interest. Display fruit in baskets or bowls, allowing clusters of grapes to spill over the sides. Place silk ivy at the base of display items or use it to fill in empty spaces, adjusting it until you are satisfied with the placement. LED rope lights or strip lights installed along the back of cabinet tops create a beautiful glow around decorative objects.

Spread Out Displays

If your kitchen has asymmetrical cabinets with tops that vary in height, you will need to spread out your cabinet top display. Add depth by mounting wrought iron art to the wall above the cabinets. Place a decorative accent such as an urn or a plate on a stand nearby. Use taller objects on the lower cabinets and shorter objects on the higher cabinets. Brighten a corner cabinet top with a glass bowl full of faux lemons, a colorful ceramic rooster or a rustic pitcher filled with sunflowers. Scatter faux greenery throughout the cabinet tops, placed in vine or iron baskets or clustered around other display pieces.

About the Author

Michelle Radcliff owned a retail home furnishings business for eight years. Radcliff offers decorating advice on her blog, Home Decorating News, is a regular contributor on interior design at LoveToKnow.com and earned certification as an interior decorator from Penn Foster College in 2013.

Photo Credits

Vladislav Gurfinkel/iStock/Getty Images

bibliography-iconicon for annotation tool Cite this Article

Choose Citation Style

Radcliff, Michelle. "How to Decorate on Top of Kitchen Cabinets in Tuscany Style." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/decorate-top-kitchen-cabinets-tuscany-style-104658.html. Accessed 22 February 2019.

Radcliff, Michelle. (n.d.). How to Decorate on Top of Kitchen Cabinets in Tuscany Style. Home Guides | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/decorate-top-kitchen-cabinets-tuscany-style-104658.html

Radcliff, Michelle. "How to Decorate on Top of Kitchen Cabinets in Tuscany Style" accessed February 22, 2019. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/decorate-top-kitchen-cabinets-tuscany-style-104658.html

Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.